Questões

Texto 3

Contra os iconoclastas

A mentira está no mundo. Ela está em nós e ao nosso redor. Não podemos fechar-lhe os olhos. Omnis homo mandax, diz um salmo (115, 11). Podemos traduzir: o homem é uma criatura capaz de mentir. Se não são todos os homens que escondem seus pensamentos com a língua, no caso de políticos e diplomatas a mentira integra o métier. Hermann Kesten expande a ideia como um leque: “Há categorias profissionais inteiras, sobre as quais o povo pensa de antemão, que obrigam seus representantes a mentir, como, por exemplo, teólogos, políticos, prostitutas, diplomatas, jornalistas, advogados, atores, juízes […]”. Palavras de um poeta?

Santo Agostinho, o primeiro a tornar a mentira objeto de reflexão filosófica e teológica, viu também em primeira mão o aspecto linguístico da mentira. Seria mentira o discurso figurado? Quod absit omnino (‘O que seria pura tolice’), disse Agostinho, ao refletir sobre a ideia de que a linguagem figurada em todas as suas formas talvez devesse ser considerada no âmbito da mentira. Não são muitos os que censuram explicitamente a metáfora (adotaremos o termo para todos os tipos de imagens linguísticas) de ser mentirosa. Mas implicitamente se ouve sempre essa censura. Em especial na ciência parece reinar um profundo ceticismo em relação à metáfora. Vez ou outra entram em cena iconoclastas arrogando que querem agora purificar a linguagem científica de todas as metáforas, e tudo ficaria bem, a verdade assomaria. Comparação deve ceder lugar à razão, dizem, e a ciência deve exprimir-se em sua linguagem. As metáforas apenas dissimulariam os pensamentos científicos, ou mesmo os deformariam. Um pesquisador sério escreve sem metáforas.

Mas eliminar as metáforas quer dizer não somente arrancar as flores do caminho da verdade, quer dizer também se privar do veículo que ajuda a acelerar o acesso à verdade. Uma palavra isolada jamais pode ser uma metáfora. “Fogo” é sempre a palavra normal cujo significado (lexical) conhecemos. Somente através de um contexto essa palavra pode se tornar uma metáfora, por exemplo, “fogo da paixão”. Se a metáfora necessariamente tem o contexto como condição de sua formação, não se aplica para ela a semântica da palavra isolada, mas a semântica da palavra no texto, com o jogo da determinação entre os polos do significado lexical e do significado textual. Essa tensão constitui o fascínio da metáfora.

Não há nenhuma razão para desconfiança ante as metáforas. Não se pode falar que a linguagem figurada seja como uma cobertura de flores, bela, mas inútil. Todas as palavras nos deveriam ser bem-vindas se queremos usá-las no texto, aquelas em contexto esperado, bem como aquelas em contexto inesperado, as metáforas. Não há mentira na metáfora, portanto.

WEINRICH, H. Linguística da mentira. Trad. de M. A. Barbosa e W. Heidermann. Florianópolis: Ed. da Ufsc, 2017. p. 13-15; 53-59. Adaptado.

A Brief and Simplified Description of Papermaking

The paper we use today is created from individual wood fibers that are first suspended in water and then pressed and dried into sheets. The process of converting the wood to a suspension of wood fibers in water is known as pulp making, while the manufacture of the dried and pressed sheets of paper is formally termed papermaking. The process of making paper has undergone a steady evolution, and larger and more sophisticated equipment and better technology continue to improve it.

The Wood yard and Wood rooms

The process at Androscogging began with receiving wood in the form of chips or of logs 4 or 8 feet in length. From 6 AM to 10 PM a steady stream of trucks and railroad cars were weighted and unloaded. About 40 percent were suplied by independents who were paid by weight their logs. The mill also received wood chips from lumber mills in the area. The chips and logs were stored in mammoth piles with separate piles for wood of different species (such as pine, spruce, hemlock).

When needed, logs were floated in flumes......(1).....the wood yard.....(2).....one of the mill’s three wood rooms. There, bark was rubbed......(3)........in long, ribbed debarking drums by tumbling the logs against one another. The logs then fell into a chipper;......(4)......seconds a large log was reduced to a pile of chips approximately 1 inch by 1 inch by 1/4 inch.

The chips were stored in silos. There were separate silos for softwoods (spruce, fir, hemlock, and pine) and hardwoods (maple, oak, beech, and birch). This separate and temporary storage of chips permitted the controlled mixing of chips into the precise recipe for the grade of paper being produced.

The wood chips were then sorted through large, flat vibrating screens. Oversized chips were rechipped, and ones that were too small were collected for burning in the power house. (The mill provided approximately 20 percent of all its own steam and electricity needs from burning waste. An additional 50 percent of total electricity needs was produced by harnessing the river for hydroelectric power.)

Once drawn from the silo into the digesters, there was no stopping the flow of chips into paper. 

Pulpmaking

The pulp made at Androscoggin was of two types: Kraft pulp (produced chemically) and ground wood pulp (produced mechanically). Kraft pulp was far more important to the high quality white papers produced at Androscoggin, accounting for 80 percent of all the pulp used. Kraft pulp makes strong paper. (Kraft is German for strength. A German invented the Kraft pulp process in 1884.) A paper’s strength generally comes from the overlap and binding of long fibers of softwood; only chemically was it initially possible to separate long wood fibers for suspension in water. Hardwood fibers are generally smaller and thinner and help smooth the paper and make it less porous.

The ground wood pulping process was simpler and less expensive than the Kraft process. It took high quality spruce and fir logs and pressed them continuously against a revolving stone that broke apart the wood’s fibers. The fibers, however, were smaller than those produced by the Kraft process and, although used to make newsprint, were useful at Androscoggin in providing “fill” for the coated publication gloss papers of machines 2 and 3, as will be described later.

^(A)The chemical Kraft process worked by dissolving the lignin that bonds wood fibers together. ^(B) It did this in a tall pressure cooker, called a digester, by “cooking” the chips in a solution of caustic soda (NaOH) and sodium sulfide (Na²S), which was termed the “white liquor.” ^(C)The two digesters at Androscoggin were continuous digesters; chips and liquor went into the top, were cooked together as they slowly settled down to the bottom, and were drawn off the bottom after about three hours. ^(D) By this time, the white liquor had changed chemically to “black liquor’’; the digested chips were then separated from this black liquor. ^(E)

In what was known as the “cold blow” process, the hot, pressurized chips were gradually cooled and depressurized. A “cold liquor’’ (170°F) was introduced to the bottom of the digester and served both to cool and to transport the digested chips to a diffusion washer that washed and depressurized the chips. Because so much of the lignin bonding the fibers together had been removed, the wood fiber in the chips literally fell apart at this stage.

The black liquor from the digester entered a separate four-step recovery process. Over 95 percent of the black liquor could be reconstituted as white liquor, thereby saving on chemical costs and significantly lowering pollution. The four-step process involved (1) washing the black liquor from the cooked fiber to produce weak black liquor, (2) evaporating the weak black liquor to a thicker consistency, (3) combustion of this heavy black liquor with sodium sulfate (Na₂SO₄ ), and redissolving the smelt, yielding a “green liquor” (sodium carbonate + sodium sulfide), and (4) adding lime, which reacted with the green liquor to produce white liquor. The last step was known as causticization.

Meanwhile, the wood-fiber pulp was purged of impurities like bark and dirt by mechanical screening and by spinning the mixture in centrifugal cleaners. The pulp was then concentrated by removing water from it so that it could be stored and bleached more economically.

By this time, depending on the type of pulp being made, it had been between 3 1/2 and 5 hours since the chips had entered the pulp mill. 

All the Kraft pulp was then bleached. Bleaching took between 5 and 6 hours. It consisted of a three-step process in which (1) a mix of chlorine (Cl₂ ) and chlorine dioxide (CIO₂ ) was introduced to the pulp and the pulp was washed; (2) a patented mix of sodium hydroxide (NaOH), liquid oxygen, and hydrogen peroxide (H₂ O₂ ) was then added to the pulp and the pulp was again washed; and (3) chlorine dioxide (ClO₂ ) was introduced and the pulp washed a final time. The result was like fluffy cream of wheat. By this time the pulp was nearly ready to be made into paper.

From the bleachery, the stock of pulp was held for a short time in storage (a maximum of 16 hours) and then proceeded through a series of blending operations that permitted a string of additives (for example, filler clay, resins, brighteners, alum, dyes) to be mixed into the pulp according to the recipe for the paper grade being produced. Here, too, “broke” (paper wastes from the mill itself) was recycled into the pulp. The pulp was then once again cleaned and blended into an even consistency before moving to the papermaking machine itself.

It made a difference whether the broke was of coated or uncoated paper, and whether it was white or colored. White, uncoated paper could be recycled immediately. Colored, uncoated paper had to be rebleached. Coated papers, because of the clays in them, could not be reclaimed.

The Pros and Cons of Nuclear Power

Since the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan in 2011, a debate has been raging (1) the future of atomic energy. Consequently, the safety risks have been well publicized in the global media. But do the risks outweigh the damage that could be done to the planet because of our ongoing addiction to fossil fuels?

Even environmentalists don’t have the answer. They are split over nuclear (2) , and its pros and cons. Some say it is neither safe nor economical because it produces potentially (3) radioactive waste, and reactors are so costly to build. However, others believe nuclear energy is a necessary evil. They say we should continue using it until (4) energy sources, like wind turbines and solar panels, can meet global demand. Supporters also argue that nuclear energy helps cut down on carbon emissions from fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas, which are linked to global warming and pollute the environment. They say this is because nuclear reactors produce a tiny fraction of the carbon dioxide generated by burning coal.

But perhaps the biggest hurdle for atomic energy to overcome is its image problem. Despite industry claims of a strong safety record, critics remain unconvinced because each reactor annually produces up to 30 tons of nuclear waste, which can continue to be radioactive and hazardous for thousands of years. Furthermore, the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 left the public with vivid images of the impact of a nuclear meltdown, including deformed babies, mutated vegetables, and abandoned towns.

While nuclear reactors may continue to be installed in some countries for decades to come, after Fukushima others have decided to rethink their energy policies. For example, the German government has revealed plans for a “green” renewable energy plan, even though it has relied on nuclear power for up to 23 percent of its consumption in the past. It has been announced that all seventeen nuclear power plants would be phased out by 2022. The policy will also promote energy-saving measures encouraging people to insulate their homes, recycle, and reduce waste. Experts argue it could be a risky strategy because Germany doesn’t have natural gas or oil supplies, and coal supplies have been depleted.

Meanwhile, in Brazil, there is just one nuclear plant at Angra dos Reis. Nuclear power represents only three per cent of Brazil’s energy production. After sharp oil price rises in the 1970s, the country’s leaders anticipated future energy supply problems. So they concentrated on developing alternative energy sources including biofuel, hydroelectric schemes, and wind power. 

This approach seems to be working because by May 2012 plans to build more nuclear reactors were shelved by Brazilian officials. The move was welcomed by environmental lobby groups, which had feared a potential ecological catastrophe in case of an accident. If a big country like Brazil, which is the tenth largest energy consumer in the world, can survive and improve its economy without much nuclear power, maybe others can do so, too.

Texto 4

Falares dos sete mares 

As línguas são produto social e histórico, porque resultam de um saber compartilhado pelos membros de determinada comunidade e, ao mesmo tempo, porque se trata de um conhecimento acumulado no eixo do tempo. Existem diversas perspectivas sob as quais as línguas podem ser analisadas; contudo, a variação linguística dificilmente pode ser dissociada das correlações histórico-sociais. Variações podem ocorrer no interior de uma língua tanto ao longo do tempo quanto no espaço territorial.

Existem formas diferentes e excludentes de as comunidades e os Estados enfrentarem as variações linguísticas. A política linguística de um país pode encarar as diferenças como um valor positivo a ser preservado, ou pode, de maneira totalitária, buscar a extirpação de línguas minoritárias e de variedades regionais. A chamada padronização de línguas nacionais pode resultar no esmagamento de variantes, mas também pode gerar forte resistência cultural. 

Num mundo em que a pressão econômica e a urbanização tendem a transformar a uniformidade em valor positivo, cada vez mais existe o perigo de milhares de línguas minoritárias desaparecerem em menos de um século. Mas as variações linguísticas não devem desaparecer, porque em qualquer grupo sociolinguístico e cultural elas se fazem presentes tanto no plano espacial quanto no social. Em outros termos: falantes de lugares diferentes fazem uso ligeira ou profundamente diferente da mesma língua, e grupos sociais distintos também. Uma das questões centrais reside no fato de como as políticas linguísticas dos Estados modernos encaram a diversidade linguística, qual é o poder de coesão de grupo de falantes de certas variedades e qual é o grau de assimilação ou de resistência cultural a que estão dispostos a submeter-se.

JOVANOVIC, A. Falares dos sete mares. Discutindo Língua Portuguesa [especial], p. 52-54, ano 1, nº 1.) [Adaptado]

The Operations Function

Although somewhat ‘invisible’ to the marketplace the operations function in a typical company accounts for well over half the employment and well over half the physical assets. That, in itself, makes the operations function important. In a company’s organization chart, operations often enjoys parity with the other major business functions: marketing, sales, product engineering, finance control (accounting), and human resources (personnel, labor relations). Sometimes, the operations function is organized as a single entity which stretches out across the entire company, but more often it is embedded in the district, typically product-defined divisions into which most major companies are organized.

In many service businesses, the operations function is typically more visible. Service businesses are often organized into many branches, often with geographic responsibilities – field offices, retail outlets. In such tiers of the organization, operations are paramount.

The operations function itself is, often divided 

.................two major groupings .................tasks:

line management and support services. Line management generally refers.................those managers directly concerned................the manufacture of the product or the delivery of the service. They are the ones who are typically close enough to the product or service that they can ‘touch’ it. Line management supervises the hourly, blue-collar workforce. In a manufacturing company, line management frequently extends to the stockroom (where material, parts, and semi-finished products – termed ‘work-in-process inventory – are stored), materials handling, the tool room, maintenance, the warehouse (where finished goods are stored), and distribution, as well as the so-called ‘factory floor’. In a service operation, what is considered line management can broaden considerably. Often, order-taking roles, in addition to orderfilling roles, are supervised by service line managers.

Support services for line management’s operations can be numerous. Within a manufacturing environment, support services carry titles such as quality control, production planning and scheduling, purchasing, inventory control, production control (which determines the status of jobs in the factory and what to do about jobs that may have fallen behind schedule), industrial engineering (which is work methods oriented), manufacturing engineering (which is hardware-oriented), on-going product engineering, and field service. In a service environment, some of the same roles are played but sometimes under vastly different names.

Thus, the managers for whom operational issues are central can hold a variety of titles. In manufacturing, the titles can range from vice-president – manufacturing, works manager, plant manager, and similar titles at the top of the hierarchy, through such titles as manufacturing or production manager, general superintendent, department manager, materials manager, director of quality control, and down to general foreman or foreman. Within service businesses, ‘operations manager’ is sometimes used but frequently the title is more general – business manager, branch manager, retail manager, and so on.

SCHMENNER, Roger W. Production/Operations Management. 5th Edition. Prentice-Hall, 1993.

Texto 3

Contra os iconoclastas

A mentira está no mundo. Ela está em nós e ao nosso redor. Não podemos fechar-lhe os olhos. Omnis homo mandax, diz um salmo (115, 11). Podemos traduzir: o homem é uma criatura capaz de mentir. Se não são todos os homens que escondem seus pensamentos com a língua, no caso de políticos e diplomatas a mentira integra o métier. Hermann Kesten expande a ideia como um leque: “Há categorias profissionais inteiras, sobre as quais o povo pensa de antemão, que obrigam seus representantes a mentir, como, por exemplo, teólogos, políticos, prostitutas, diplomatas, jornalistas, advogados, atores, juízes […]”. Palavras de um poeta?

Santo Agostinho, o primeiro a tornar a mentira objeto de reflexão filosófica e teológica, viu também em primeira mão o aspecto linguístico da mentira. Seria mentira o discurso figurado? Quod absit omnino (‘O que seria pura tolice’), disse Agostinho, ao refletir sobre a ideia de que a linguagem figurada em todas as suas formas talvez devesse ser considerada no âmbito da mentira. Não são muitos os que censuram explicitamente a metáfora (adotaremos o termo para todos os tipos de imagens linguísticas) de ser mentirosa. Mas implicitamente se ouve sempre essa censura. Em especial na ciência parece reinar um profundo ceticismo em relação à metáfora. Vez ou outra entram em cena iconoclastas arrogando que querem agora purificar a linguagem científica de todas as metáforas, e tudo ficaria bem, a verdade assomaria. Comparação deve ceder lugar à razão, dizem, e a ciência deve exprimir-se em sua linguagem. As metáforas apenas dissimulariam os pensamentos científicos, ou mesmo os deformariam. Um pesquisador sério escreve sem metáforas.

Mas eliminar as metáforas quer dizer não somente arrancar as flores do caminho da verdade, quer dizer também se privar do veículo que ajuda a acelerar o acesso à verdade. Uma palavra isolada jamais pode ser uma metáfora. “Fogo” é sempre a palavra normal cujo significado (lexical) conhecemos. Somente através de um contexto essa palavra pode se tornar uma metáfora, por exemplo, “fogo da paixão”. Se a metáfora necessariamente tem o contexto como condição de sua formação, não se aplica para ela a semântica da palavra isolada, mas a semântica da palavra no texto, com o jogo da determinação entre os polos do significado lexical e do significado textual. Essa tensão constitui o fascínio da metáfora.

Não há nenhuma razão para desconfiança ante as metáforas. Não se pode falar que a linguagem figurada seja como uma cobertura de flores, bela, mas inútil. Todas as palavras nos deveriam ser bem-vindas se queremos usá-las no texto, aquelas em contexto esperado, bem como aquelas em contexto inesperado, as metáforas. Não há mentira na metáfora, portanto.

WEINRICH, H. Linguística da mentira. Trad. de M. A. Barbosa e W. Heidermann. Florianópolis: Ed. da Ufsc, 2017. p. 13-15; 53-59. Adaptado.